Pickup brushes for sweepers



Sept. 15, 1953 J. H. BROWNE PICKUP BRUSHES FOR swEEPERs 2 Sheets-Sheet lFiled Feb, 16, 1949 Sept. 15, 1953 Filed Feb. 16, 1949 J. H. BROWNEPICKUP BRUSHES FOR SWEEPERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Sept. 15, 1953UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PICKUP BRUSHES FOR SWEEPERS James H. Browne,Lisbon, Ohio Application February 16, 1949, Serial No. 76,797

6 Claims. 1

This invention relates to pick up brushes for carpet sweepers or thelike. These brushes may be independently used as a sole pick up meansfor sweepers in general, or the brushes may be embodied as a cooperativemeans for conventional sweepers performing the function of pickking upand depositing in the sweeper all extraneous loose particles such aspins, buttonsy threads and so forth normally found on fioors. Althoughthe device will be described as applied to carpet sweepers, it obviouslyhas wider application to sweepers of all kinds.

The need for such pick up devices is well known. As a matter ofexperience, sweepers are notoriously deficient in this pick up function.It appears that normal sweeping functions of sweepers are heldinadaptable for the pick up function and that some special arrangementsare indicated.

Corollary to this situation is the fact that the pick up feature ofsweepers is not continuously needed. Accasionally when pick up isrequired, the normal pick up function of the sweeper brushes isinoperative due to clogging or other causes. Preferably, pick up brushesshould be disengaged or adjustable for use when required.

It is one of the principal objects of the present invention to providedual pick up brushes that coact with each other to pick up particlesfrom any surface.

Another object is to provide dual coacting pick up brushes in a sweeperthat may be adjustably mounted so that the pick up brushes may be movedfrom operative to non-operative positions so that wear on the brushesmay be minimized when not in use.

Another object is to provide dual pick up brushes that may be cleanedand free of extraneous materials so that maximum effectiveness of thebrushes may be maintained.

Other objects and benefits will be disclosed in the followingdescriptions and drawings. It will be understood that the device will bemainly illustrated as applied to a conventional vacuum sweeper, althoughit will be understood that it has application to all sweepers.

Now referring to the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a horizontal sectional view of a vacuum sweeper showing thegeneral arrangement of my pick up brushes as applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged side View of the vacuum sweeper shown in Fig. l asit would appear on the section line 2 2 of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross sectional View similar to Fig. 2 as thestructure would appear on the section line 3 3 of Fig. 1 showing anadjustment device;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken endwise of the dual pick upbrushes mounted in conjunction with a conventional sweeper brush to showhow the pick up brushes may be applied for cooperation with a sweeperbrush;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation View of the pick up brush drive device as itwould appear on the section line 5-5 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a detail elevation view of a modied arrangement using a rubbertired sweeper supporting wheel of a conventional carpet sweeper tofrictionally drive the main sweeper brush and showing how the drive maybe transmitted to the pick up brushes; and

Fig. 7 is another sectional view of the dual pick up brushes to betterillustrate the cleaning device used in conjunction with these brushes.

Now referring to the drawings and at the outset to Fig. 1, I show aconventional vacuum sweeper housing I0 with a suction fan I I mountedtherein. 1t will be understood that the fan is driven by an electricmotor as is the usual practice in the art but not illustrated herein.From the fan motor shaft there is a belt I2 attached to a central pulleyportion on the conventional sweeper brush I3 to transmit the drive fromthe fan motor shaft to the brush I3.

Brush I3 is preferably provided with stub end shafts Bts suitablyjournalled at I4 and I5 in end Walls |00. of housing I0. A drive belt I6is trained over the central pulley portion of the brush I3 and connectswith a pulley I'Ip to transmit rotary motion to shaft Ils comprising theshaft of the cleaning device il which coacts to clean the bristles ofthe pick up brushes 2li and 2I. Brushes 2t and 2l are supported forrotation upon the closely set shafts Zls and 2 is whereby the bristlesof brushes 20 and 2| intermingle and intermesh during rotation of theshafts 20s and 2 Is to carry out the pick up function.

A pair of brackets i8 and i9 are carried adjacent the end walls Ita ofthe housing Ill and are pivotally supported upon the stub end shafts 35sfor bodily swinging movement relatively thereto and to the housing. Thepick up brushes 2li and 2| are connected with the swingable ends iSa andI9a of the brackets by means of the associated brush shafts its and 2Is.Shaft ils is also suitably mounted upon the swingable ends of thebrackets I3 and i9 to dispose this shaft in a predetermined givenrelation with respect to the pick up brushes 20 and 2l for cleaning thelatter and to free the brushes of entwined or entrained foreignparticles or matter. Thus, it will be understood that the cleaner deviceIl and the brushes 20 and 2| are mounted in the end brackets I8 and I9pivotally mounted to swing upon the shafts 35s as is well illustrated inFig. 3. The end brackets may be moved upwardly and out of contact withthe floor by permitting the tension spring 22 to move these bracketsupwardly when the ratchet 23 is released by the foot dog 24. Thus thecontact of the brushes 20 and 2I may be adjusted from a suitableinoperative position having no contact with the floor to a depressed andbrush bristle defiecting floor contacting position as desired by theoperator and for the proper pick up functioning of the brushes 2li and 2I.

Now referring to Figs. and 7, the drive to the brushes and 2| isarranged to provide opposite rotation of these brushes which isnecessary to the present invention. The shaft I'Is revolvingcounter-clockwise as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 5 is driven from thebelt I6 and shaft Ils' has on its left hand and in consideration withFig. 1, a gear 25 which is held by the bracket I9 in meshing contactwith the gear 26 mounted on the left hand end of the shaft 20s as viewedin Fig. 1. Naturally, this shaft will drive and rotate clockwise. Itwill be observed that the shaft 2 Is at the left hand rotates freely inbracket I9. However, on the right hand side of the sweeper on the righthand end of the shaft Zus is a gear 21 which meshes with the gear 28 onthe shaft 2Is as clearly shown in Fig. 7. Thus, the brushes 20 and 2lare rotated in opposite directions as clearly indicated by the arrows.The cleaning comb I'I mounted on the shaft I'Is is a conventionaldevice. The rotating fingers I'I provide the instrumentalities forcleaning the brushes 20 and 2I from extraneous matter 57.,

so that the bristles in the brushes are maintained in a clean effectivemanner.

As above described, the pick up brushes were applied for use with anordinary power driven vacuum sweeper. In Fig. 6 is illustrated how arubber tired wheel such as II3 can be mounted on a shaft I I3s with aconventional bristle brush that may be driven by friction from thefloor. This friction contact is maintained by an elongated bearingaperture for shaft II3s as is well understood in the art and a belt suchas I6 provides the drive to the brushes 20 and 2I. From the foregoing,it will be understood and appreciated that the pick up brushes may beapplied to a conventional friction driven sweeper as well as a powerdriven sweeper.

Now referring to Fig. 4, I desire to explain the gist of my invention.The pick up brushes 20 and 2I are preferably equipped with comparativelythin resilient bristles. However, these brushes carry bristles overtheir entire length so that a great number of these resilient bristlesare effective for use at all times circumferentially of the lengths ofthe brushes 20 and 2I. Now observing the bristles in Fig. 4, it will beobserved that the brushes are so spaced axially as to intermesh andmingle in intimate contact in their upward movement, the interminglingof the bristles in contact is distinctly upwardly between the brushes2li and 2I. Further, it will be carefully observed that there is acoacting resilient upward movement of the bristles at this point.

The efficient and dependable brush pick up action is obtained by virtueof the closely set brushes 20 and 2i. This provides the basis forbristle filling the space at or near the surface being cleaned andbetween the brushes adjacent the surface side thereof causing hundredsof bristle fingers to intimately intermesh at the surface being cleanedto positively pick up and move dirt and foreign objects off of thesweeper supporting surface. As the brushes function they actually snaprelease objects caught by the bristles as they pass over center upwardlyof the horizontal axial disposition of the brushes. This particularrelationship of the brushes 20 and 2| to each other and with respect tothe floor or surface being cleaned is best illustrated in Figs. 2, 3 and4.

This upwardly coacting contact of the bristles effectively picks up andcarries upwardly all loose foreign particles and discharges them abovethe brushes and away from the surface of the carpet or other surface andinto the natural air flow stream of a vacuum sweeper or into a dust panin a hand operated sweeper. Now being deposited in vthis air stream,pick up materials are effectively carried along and discharged into thewaste receptacle of the sweeper.

It may be explained that the surface level intermingling of the bristlesof the closely set brushes 20 and 2I brings about this upward movementand discharge which is essential to effective pick up. Contrarywise,brush rolling horizontal movement of loose particles is not effectiveand leads to ineffective and bothersome action that is an exasperationto the user of most sweepers. It will be observed that this brushcontact is a squeezing and intermeshing fingerlike pick up betweenbristles at the cleaning surface which acts to discharge the particlesupwardly and into the natural air stream or pan of the sweeper. Further,it will be understood and appreciated that this contact is preferablyadjustable. The lengths of the nap of the carpet and the surface ofother floor coverings will have a decided effect upon the pick up.Therefore, the adjustment of the pick up brushes is also provided for inthis sweeper. As I have heretofore explained, it is not always necessaryto have the brushes in overly rm contact with the floor or carpeting andthat it is advantageous to be able to release the brushes from toointimate a Contact in order to reduce wear on the brushes particularlywhen used on high nap carpeting and so forth. Therefore, when theoperator gets into a situation where she desires to better adjust theeffective pick up she can move the pick up brushes toward floor contactto give the desired results.

Having thus explained my invention I now claim as new:

1. In a floor sweeper, a wheel supported casing, suction cleaning meansconnected with said casing, a floor sweeping brush mounted for rotationupon said casing, adjustably swingable brackets mounted upon saidcasing, latch means for adjustably positioning said brackets in givenrelations with respect to said casing, and coacting pick up bristlebrushes mounted for rotation upon said brackets and extendingtherebetween, said brushes each having the peripheral bristle portionsthereof terminating in a cylindrical contour with the brushes havingtheir axes disposed in close proximity with respect to the floor actedupon by said brushes and also in close proximity to each other wherebysaid pick up brush bristles are tangentially maintained in flexed anddispersed engagement against Such surface and also in intermeshed andintermingled relationship between the adjacent tangential portions ofsaid pick up brushes, whereby said brush bristles ll the area betweensaid ioor and said pick up brushes, and drive mechanism carried by saidcasing and constructed and arranged to drive said pick up brushes inopposite directions with respect to each other, said brushes so drivencausing the bristles thereof to move over the fioor contacted by saidbrushes with the bristles moving toward each other across said floor andaway therefrom through the tangential bristle intersecting zone betweensaid pick up brushes.

2. A sweeper pick up mechanism comprising at least two shafts, bristlescarried by said shafts and extending outwardly therefrom to providecylindrical brushes about said shafts, supporting means to rotatablycarry said shafts in closely spaced relation with respect to each otherwith the bristles of the shafts deeply intermingling with each other inintimate intertwined relation within the common tangential zone locatedbetween said shafts, said supporting means further providing theinstrumentality to maintain said shafts in close proximity with respectto the surface being cleaned by said sweeper whereby said bristles arecollectively iiexed into out-of-round brush formations while engagingthe surface being cleaned, andl drive means connected with said shaftsto rotate the shafts oppositely causing relative movement of the shaftbristles toward each other over the surface being cleaned tosuccessively intermingle the bristles of said shafts respectively, andmounting means to adjustably carry said shaft supporting means tobodilymove both of said shafts toward or away from the surface being cleaned,said mounting means comprising a wheel supported housing, pivotal meansto swingably carry said shaft supporting means on said housing, andcooperative mechanism interposed between said housing and shaftsupporting means to hold the latter in a given relation with respect tosaid housing.

3. In a wheel supported sweeper housing, the combination of cooperativebrush mechanisms comprising a first main sweeping brush supported forrotation on said housing and for tangential sweeping Contact with asurface being cleaned, and a pair of bristle brushes with cylindricalcontours disposed adjacent said first brush with both l of the bristlebrushes being arranged in depressed and out-of-round tangential contactagainst the surface being cleaned, a supporting means connected withsaid housing to bodily carry said pair of bristle brushes for rotationin closely spaced relation with the bristles of each one of said pair ofbrushes intimately intersecting the external zone of the bristle terminiof the other of said pair of brushes in the common tangential regionlocated between said brushes, said out-of-round and intersectingbristles lling the area between the surface being cleaned and saidbrushes, and drive means operably connected with said bristle brushesand constructed and arranged to cause opposite rotation of said pair ofbrushes to move the bristles of these brushes respectively toward eachother through the bristle filled area adjacent the surface being cleanedand away therefrom between said pair of brushes.

1. 1n a wheel supported sweeper housing as set forth in claim 3, but inwhich said drive means has connection with said main sweeping brush, andincluding means operative to transmit driving power to said drive means.

5. In a sweeper, a casing, wheels to support said casing at a givendistance above a. surface to be cleaned, and a dual rotary pick up meansadapted for generally tangentially sweeping engagement with the surfaceto be cleaned, said means comprising at least two rotatable bristlecarriers each having bristles radiating generally outwardly therefromwith respect to the axis of rotation thereof and terminating in acylindrical peripheral contour, support means connected with said casingto position said carriers with their axes spaced and separated adistance less than the lengths of the bristles respectively of saidcarriers to deeply intermingle the bristles of said carriers within thetangential zone located between said two cairiers, said supporting meansbeing located and arranged in relation to said casing to position saidcarriers at such a distance from the surface to be cleaned so as tocause flexing and surface dispersion of said bristles against saidsurface and along the tangential Zone of said carrier bristle portionslocated adjacent said surface, and actuating means connected with saidcarriers to rotate the carriers in opposite directions with respect toeach other and to move the bristles of said carriers toward each otheralong the surface being cleaned and away from such surface through thezone between said carriers.

6. An auxiliary pick up mechanism for cooperative use in connection witha cleaning device normally employed in a given relation with respect toa surface being cleaned, said pick up mechanism comprising at least onepair of adjacently positioned rotatable cylindrical brushes, the brushesbeing arranged with respect to said device to occupy a tangentialmeeting position closer to each other than the length of theirindividual radii as measured from their axes to the terminal tips oftheir respective bristles, and both brushes simultaneously occupyingpositions against the surface being cleaned to dispose both brush axescloser to such surface than their radii as measured from their axes tothe terminal tips of their respective bristles to flex and disperse suchbristles in out-of-round tangential contact with the surface, and drivemeans connected with said brushes for rotating said brushes oppositelywith respect to each other to move the bristles of said respectivebrushes toward each other beneath the brushes and over the surface beingcleaned and to move said bristles of said brushes in intermingledrelation upwardly and away from said surface to gather and move foreignmaterials to a median position on said surface between the brushes andto bodily lift and convey such materials generally upwardly through thecommon tangential region between said brushes respectively.

JALIES H, BROWNE,

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 755,596 Keyes Mar. 22, 1904 769,753 Loge Sept. 13, 19041,259,326 Westerheim Mar. 12, 1918 1,525,585 McDowell Feb. 10, 19252,036,840 Thiesen Apr. 7, 1936 2,054,713 Randolph Sept. l5, 19362,073,660 Stukenborg Mar. 16, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date290,641 Great Britain Aug. 30, 1923 767,351 France May l, 1934

